Ouachita Baptist University’s Division of Music will host its 17th annual Mary Shambarger Competition for Singers on Tuesday, March 3rd, at 2 p.m. in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s McBeth Recital Hall on the Ouachita campus. The competition’s performances are open to the public.

The competition is open to Ouachita voice principals in their fourth semester of study or beyond and features a repertoire that rotates annually among selections from art songs, music theatre and arias. This year’s competition will highlight art songs.

“This will be a fantastic afternoon of various art songs of all different styles and time periods,” said David Stanley, instructor of music and event coordinator. This year, 20 upperclassmen voice principals are in competition.

The Shambarger Competition is held each year to honor Mary Shambarger, professor emerita of music, who served as a professor and vocal instructor on Ouachita’s music faculty for 32 years. Shambarger was influential in the formation of the Ouachita-Tones, an all-female singing ensemble, which she later restructured into what is now known as the Ouachita Sounds, a smaller ensemble of male and female students.

“The Shambarger Competition is not only a wonderful opportunity for student performers to share their musical gifts through song, but also an opportunity to win generous prize money,” noted Stanley. “This competition typically brings out the very best in our OBU vocalists.”

The generous prize money is made available by Shambarger to encourage students to present their work in the most professional way possible. The first-place winner will receive a $500 award; second place will receive $300; third place will receive $200; fourth place will receive $100 and honorable mention will receive $50.

Shambarger further remains involved by serving as one of the judges. Dr. Charles Wright, former dean of the OBU School of Fine Arts and current development officer, and Jenna Williams Tucker, a 2002 Ouachita graduate and voice professional, join her in adjudication.

A reception in the Hammons Gallery of Mabee Fine Arts Center honoring the singers and judges will follow the competition.

For more information, contact OBU’s School of Fine Arts at (870) 245-5129.

Returning to her alma mater next month, singer-songwriter Bonnie Montgomery will perform a concert on Friday, March 6, in Ouachita Baptist University’s Verser Theatre at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Ouachita School of Fine Arts’ Guest Artist Series. Tickets can be purchased for $5 each at www.obu.edu/boxoffice.

“Bonnie’s rockabilly songs will be a big hit with fans of country music,” said Adam Wheat, Ouachita’s fine arts administrator, adding that “anyone who appreciates fun music” will enjoy her performance.

Wheat has been working to expand the Guest Artist Series, which includes musical and theatrical performances as well as visual arts displays. “We wanted to reserve at least one space in our series each year to feature one of our many distinguished alumni,” he explained.

Montgomery, a native of Arkansas, is known as a classically trained opera singer by day and country queen by night. Describing her style, her website says, “Bonnie’s catalog hails from a place where outlaw country saddles up with Americana and folk.”

She has traveled across the U.S. and Europe sharing her twist on classic country music, and in 2010 she earned the attention of publications such as The New Yorker, The Economist, The Huffington Post, The London Daily Telegraph and Time Magazine for her composition of Billy Blythe, a folk opera based on the childhood of President Bill Clinton. Montgomery’s first full-length album was released in the summer of 2014, and she is currently traveling the country with her band performing concerts in such cities as Little Rock, Austin and Los Angeles.

Following graduation from Ouachita in 2002, she traveled to China to teach English before returning to the U.S. to complete her Master of Arts degree in music at the University of Missouri’s Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She was named a recipient of the Ouachita Alumni Milestone Award in 2012.

Tickets are $5 each and may be purchased from the OBU Box Office weekdays from 1-5 p.m. Tickets also may be purchased online at www.obu.edu/boxoffice. Current Ouachita students may receive one free ticket by presenting their student ID at the box office. For more information, call the box office at (870) 245-5555 during business hours.